Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, in a sit-down interview with Bloomberg shortly before the attempt on his life, argued that tariffs are "phenomenal" economically -- "and man, is it good for negotiation."
Dan Ujczo, senior counsel in Thompson Hine's trade practice, said he expects a second Biden or Trump administration to say it won't authorize USMCA to continue for another 16 years in 2026, when the trade pact is up for review.
Although it's possible presidential candidate Donald Trump was just riffing when he proposed eliminating the federal income tax and replacing the revenue with tariffs, the White House Council of Economic Advisers is countering the idea with a white paper it issued July 12.
Canada's half-hearted attempts to comply with dairy tariff rate quotas and the refusal of the U.S. to comply with the auto rules of origin ruling are undermining the USMCA and could make its review more painful, panelists from Canada and Mexico said this week.
Tariff carve-outs for Mexican steel and aluminum in the Section 232 action will be curtailed, so that only steel that is melted and poured in North America can qualify, and so that aluminum that was smelted or cast in China, Russia, Belarus but worked again in Mexico will be taxed at higher rates.
A former top trade negotiator in Mexico, Juan Carlos Baker Pineda, said he doesn't think the review of the USMCA will be about fine-tuning or technical changes to the trade pact.
In a bill that Republicans say is "rightsizing agencies and programs," the division of the Commerce Department that handles antidumping and countervailing duties administration would be cut by 5.7% -- $7 million -- from the current fiscal year. The bill also proposes cutting funding of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative by 8.1% -- $6 million -- from current spending. The International Trade Commission, which manages changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule code, provides independent analysis crucial to the AD/CVD process, and manages the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill product nominating process, would get a 5.7% cut, $7 million less than current spending.
The official proclamation implementing an announcement in mid-May on changes to the 14.25% tariffs on imported solar panels and the tariff rate quotas on imported cells was issued by the White House on June 21.
Former President Donald Trump, meeting with Republicans in Congress June 13, told them he would consider eliminating the income tax and replacing it with tariff revenue if he is reelected. While Trump has floated putting a 10% tariff on all imports, and a 60% tariff on Chinese imports, but that would not raise enough revenue to replace the income tax.
Trade groups representing steel pipe and tube producers, along with Optimus Steel, Zekelman Industries, Atkore and the Coalition for a Prosperous America are asking the president to either reimpose tariffs on Mexican steel under Section 232, or impose quotas that reduce the import of products that are now imported in greater quantities than before 2017.